Combing device for textile fibers



A. E. MEYER.

COMBING DEVICE FOR TEXTILE FIBERS. APPLICATION FILED Aue.29, l9l8.- RENEWED FEB. 24, I922.

v 9,519. PatentedSept.19,1922;

3 SHEETS-SHEET I.

INVENTOR MATTORNEY A. E MEYER. COMBING DEVICE FOR TEXTILE FIBERS. APPLICATION FILED AUG-"29, 191a. RENEWED FEB. 24. 1922;

1,429,519, PatentedSept.19,1922.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

INVENTOR M Mg MATTQRNEY of combing cylinders, as may be desireu,

'T- r atenteol iii, .h. he," [n10 than GOMBIITG DEVICE. FOR FIBERS.

Continuation of application Serial No. 182,602, filed April 17, 1917." This application filed August 29,

1918, Serial No. 251,930.

To all whom it may concern Be it lrnown that l, Pine-unit E. MEYER, a citizen of the United. States, and a resident of White Plains, county of lVestchester, and lfitate of New York, have invented certain new and, useful. improvements in Combing Devices for Textile Fibers, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to a. combing device for textile fibers, and the objects of the invention are- To provide a combing device the use of which will result in a reduction of the amount of fiber of the proper length and uality that is torn, out or combed away in combing operations. I

To provide a combingcylinder or series capable ofyilding about its axis or their axes when the fiber being; engaged by the teeth is put under such tension as to result in unduly tearing or cutting tie fiber, or in combingout an unnecessary amount of libel" from the tufts or stock of fiber being combed.

To provide a combing cylinder or series of cylinders in which the yielding movement nu: be regulated according to the particular use to which the device is put.

To provide a combing cylinder divided into a number of combing sections or disks which are yieldable with respect to each other so that if one or more disks engage fiber which gives such resistance to comb- .ing that the disk is caused to yield about its axis. such disk may yield without affecting or unduly a lfoctinr; the others; and v To provide a. combing machine in which a combing" device of the above character may be utilized to do the preliminary combing; in cmnbinutiou with a non-yielduble combing cylinder that continues the combine.

For the sake of brevity, l have referred to the device as a combing: device or cylinder for textile i'ibcrs. but I use the word combing: in its broadest sense, as including' the various operations for taking the tangle or snarl out of fiber, for separating or open- 111;; up fiber in any state, and the like. Various terms are given to these operations in the art depending upon the specific stage of the treatment of the libel at which the Renewed February 24, 1922.

Serial No. 539,038.

operation is performed, and sometimes upon the character of the fiber. In the stricter and more technical sense, some of these operations are referred to as combing, carding, opening, dressi g, etc; but in each of these operations the fibers are combed in the broad sense of the term, and the device used is, in the broad sense of the term, a combing device-i. e., it has projections suitable to the particular use, which I will refer to'as teeth, that engage the fibers to remove the tangles, separate the fiber, smooth or assist in smoothing it out, clean it, or cause the fibers to he more parallel, etc.

in some of these combingoperations the fiber remains on its supporting cylinders or holding frame, as hereinafter illustrated, and ti e combing teeth of one or more cylinders merely pass through the fiber, while in other combing apparatus the fiber is combed or removed from one toothed cylinder or from between two toothed cylinders onto another toothed cylinder, such for example as in certain fiber-opening machines one of which is hereinafter illustrated. The cylinders are substantially the same in construction whether used to feed the fibrous material or fiber (as for example the form of laps-) to other toothed cylinders,

or used so as to have their teeth passed throughthe fiber while it 1s held on some support. These cylinders have numerous teeth set in suitable material such as leather stretched over the cylinders, and it will. be RppitCGlll] that, in machines using the toothed holding or feeding cylinders for holding the fibers in position to be acted upon by another toothed cylii'ider, the combine; advantages of the invent-ion will to some extent be acuulred by having either the feed cylinders themselves or the one acting upon. the fiber which is held by the feed cylinders, made yieldable; that is to say, the destruction. of fiber in either case will to some extent be prevented. It will therefore be understood that my invention is capable of being used in any of these operations, and that I refer to it as a combing device regardless of which of these forms it takes, 01' which of the numerous uses it may be put to.

Likewise, with regard to the character of fiber to betreated by my machine, while the invention was devised particularly for combing silk fiber and ramie, and while that may be its most important use, nevertheless, I do not wish it understood that the invention isto limited to combing these or any other particular species of liber, as the in "cntion is useful for combing various fibers natural or artificial.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will more fully appear froin the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings illustrating preferred forms of the invention, and in which-- Fig. 1. is an end elevation of a combing machine embodying my invention;

2 shows one of the combing cylinders of Figure 1 embodying one form of the invention;

Fig. 8 is an enlarged sectional view of the cylinder shown in Figure 2, with the cen* tral part broken Fig. 4 is a sectional view of a part of a modified form of cylinder embodying the invention;

Fig. 5 shows an end view of another form of the invention; and

6 shows another form of combing machine embodying my invention.

Referring to the drawings, 1 is the frame of a combing machine having a platform for the operator, and having a rotating cylinder 3 fitted with suitable sets of clamps 4 to hold the rods or sticks 5 charged with the fiber or stock 6 to be combed. This cylinder is driven from shaft 7 through the intermediation of a belt 8 (jlriving pulley 9 mounted on shaft 10 which, through the worm gears 11 shown, rotates said cylinder.

The machine so far described is a wellknown type of combing or dressing machine, known as the Brenier, Neyret a Go. machine, and sometimes as the Brenier machine, and is shown in one embodiment in Italian patent entitled Perfectionnements aux machines peigneuses circulaire pour .les dechets de soie, granted to Brcnier ct Compagnie lilarch 30, 1878, the text of which patent is found in Bollettino della Priva tive llndustriali, Anno 1878, at page 237,- 2A series, vol. 9, No. 189, and the drawing of which is found in Ta-Vela Xlill' i, vol. 9, part 1. The machine isalso shown and described in part on page @622 of the publication by J. Zipser, entitled Textile raw materials, etc, published in London n 1901, by Scott, Greenwood Son, S Broadway, Ludgatel lill, F. (l. The manner of placing the fiber between the clamps, and of combing the fiber while the machine is rotating, and of taking the combed fiber out of the machine, is all well understood in the art and therefore will not be described herein.

Such a machine usually has two combing cylinders or dolfer rolls such 12 and 13, provided, respectively, with combing teeth ll and 15, sometimes known as brushes. These teeh, as is well understood, are usu ally set in a leather or rubber blanket secured around the periphery of the cylinder so that the individual teeth yield slightly when an obstruction, but not enough to prevent serious and undue tearing or combing out of good fibers when snarls, etc, are encountered. These cylinders are positively driven by any suitable mechanism, such as belts or the like, just as they have been here tofore driven in. machines of this general type; and in combing the fiber or stock, they naturally comb or tear through any snarls or entanglements or other ol' structions, and thus pull out and cut an unnecessary amount of good fiber. To obviate this, ll provide a preliminary combing device wh'ch, in the form shown in Figure 1, consists of a suitable support or frame 16 rotatably mounted on a shaft 17 driven by a belt 18 running over pulley 19 mounted on shaft 20 of combing cylinder 13, and over pulley 21 mounted on said shaft 17. The frame 16 comprises two end spiders (only one of which is shown) suitably connected and carrying a series of relatively small combing cyii i 22, in this instance four. The cylinders are mounted on their frame or support in any suitable way so that each may yield aboiit its axis when encountering undue res'stance in combing the fibers. This may be accomp ished in any suitable way, as for example by taking a plain unsectionalized combine cylinder 22 and mounting it in split fridtion bearing 95, as shown in Figure 5. The bearing consists of an. upper bearing portion 26 hingd 2'? to the lower bearing portion 28 formed on the arm 29 of the spider or frame, and the loos-urine; is lined with any suitable material 30 that will. give the desired friction, such as babbitt. The cylinder 29 shown in l igure 5 is rotatably mounted in said bearing, that it can yield when encountering a certain amount of resistance in the combine operation. and its yielding movement is regulated in this instance by the nut 3i threaded on a bolt 32 with a spring 33 between the nut and the upper bear member By screwing this nut up or down, tile amount of friction in the bearing is reduced or increased to adiust the amount of resistance which the combine cylinder will stand before it yields about its axis. This is so :nljustcd that the cylinder will yield whenever such undue tension is put on the fibers as will tend unnecessarilv tear, cut or break them in the combine 0 5 eration, These small cylinders wheii arrznged and used in the manner shown, ar. approximately three to four inches in diam eter, and are mouz .ed on a frame of such size that the diameter of the frame and cylinders is approximately eighteen to twenty inches, or approximately equal to the diameter of the other combing cylinders 1:2 and 13; although these dimensions may be varied as and according to the purposes desired.

A roller brush is mounted as an idler on shaft 36 between the frame 1.6 and the combing cylinder 13, and the bristles of this brush are in such intimate contact with the teeth 15 on combing cylinder 13 that the roller brush is driven at substantially the same peripheral speed as that of the combing cylinder 13, and this peripheral speed is made greater than that of the extreme outer teeth of the combing cylinders 22 as the frame 16 rotates. In view of the fact that the peripheral speed of the bristles of the roller is greater than that of the outer teeth of the individual combing cylinders 22, the bristles of the roller brush which also engage the teeth of the combing cylinders 22 act to brush the nap or waste out of the teeth of these cylinders 22 and transmit it to the teeth of the positively driven combing cylinder 13 upon which it is packed by a second roller brush 38 mounted as an idler on shaft 39.

The operation of the machine as above described is as follows: The fiber is fed into the series of clamps by the operator standing on the platform 2, and the cylinder 3 rotates, the fiber receives its preliminary combing by the cylinders 22 as the frame 16 revolves; and in the act of combing the fibers, if any of the cylinders encounters undue resistance, instead of tearing out the tangled or gnarled fibers, it simply yields on its axis by rotating in a clockwise direction while the frame 16 continues to rotate in an anti-clockwise, thus lessening the strain on the fibers by combing them out more graduaily, or only partially combing them, leaving the next succeeding small cylinder to further comb the particular fibers in question before the particular fibers are, moved on by the slowly rotating cylinder 3 to the positively driven combing cylinder In this way the rough or preliminary combing of the fibers is accomplished by the yielding cylinders before the fibers reach the other combing cylinders 13 and I2,

Instead of having an integral or rigid combing cylinder such as above described,

yielding at its friction bearing, I prefer to use either one of the forms of combing cylinder shown in Figures 2 to 4, inclusive, which consist of sections. Referring to Fig ures 2 and 3 illustrating the type of in dividual cylinders 22 shown in Figure 1, 40 is a shaft adapted to be secured from rotation in any suitable manner such for example as by a key 41 securing the shaft rigidly to its support or frame 16 of Figure 1, and this shaft has mounted thereon a number of combing sections or disks 42 that may be arranged in any suitable manner so that any one of the disks when encountering such undue resistance from the fibers as would unnecessarily cut or break them, may yield about its axis without affecting 0r unduly affecting the others. These disks are shown in Figure 3 as constructed and arranged. on the shaft in the following manner: One end of the shaft has a collar 43 fixedly secured thereon by a pin 44, and between this collar and a second loosely mounted collar 45, I provide a series of balls carried in a ring 46, the parts constituting a thrust bearing. Against the collar 45 is placed anend combing disk 47 which is slipped over the other end of the shaft and is freely mounted on the shaft and may be secured to the collar 45 or not, as is desired. Next to the disk 47 I provide a collar 48 having a key or set screw 49 extending into a longitudinal groove 50 extending along the length of the shaft, so that the collar maybe slipped into place over the end of the shaft and is free to move longi-v tudinally of the shaft, but cannot rotate upon the shaft. Between this collar and the combing disk 47 I provide a suitable friction surface. This maybe provided in any suitable manner, and I have shown a fiber ring 51 freely mounted in a suitable annular groove 52 formed in the face of the collar 48, so that the disk 47 is free to rotate about the axis of the shaft, provided the frictional resistance between the collar and the disk is overcome. Between this collar and the next combing disk I provide a spiral spring 53 for the purpose of taking up any wear between the faces of the collar and disk, etc. These springs are not secured to the disks or collars, but they rest at one end against the. disks and at the other end against the collars.

Each cylinder may have as many of these disks as may be desirable, the disks being say half an inch thick. The division of the cylinder into a number of subdivisions or disks in this manner is very important, because each narrow subdivision or disk can yield when encountering a small local snarl Without affecting others, and the narrow disks have relatively small momentum and hence yield more readily, thereby helping to save the fiber. \Vhen a suitable number of disks have been placed over the shaft to form a cylinder of the desired length, I screw on a collar 55 having between it and the adjacent disk a friction ring 51, and against this collar I provide a locking nut 56, so that the frictional resistance between the disks and the collars can be regulated by screwing up the collar 55. As thecollar 55 is screwed onto the shaft to engage the outer disk, the thrust is transmitted longitudinally of the Shaft from each disk to its adjacent collar, and since these collars are free to slide along the keyway, the thrust is properly dist ibuted and the friction be tween the different disks thus controlled.

011 one face of each of the sections I preferably provide a thin laterally projecting annular flange or with a rounded edge, the function of this being; to partially bridge the gap between adjacent comliiinp; sections, to reduce the amount of lint or dirt falling between the sections, thus permitting the use of a sutlicient working clearance between the adjacent collars and disks for the utilization of the friction rings of suitable size,

and protecting the same from the admission of too much "dirt or lint. shown, the edge of the flange is roui'ided or otherwise suitably arranged so to reduce friction between it and the surface of the adjacent section if at any time the two should contact.

Any suitable means may be provided to permit the disks to separately yield about their axis. F or example, instead of using the friction disks just described, I may utilize torsional springs 57, shown in Figure 4. for partially or wholly replacing the frictional resistance. In this case, as in the case of the combingcylinder just described, a station co lar 43 is pinned at one end of the shaft, and the shaft is provided with a series of collars 48 having; keys 4L9 fitting in a longitudinal groove 50 formed in the shaft, so that the collars 48" may slide longitudinally of the shaft but cannot rotate thereon; and alternating with these collars 4C8 a series of combing dislzs 4i?" are arranged, these disks, like those just described, being free to yield about the shaft. Each collar 48 is connected to a disk ,42 by means of one of the torsional springs 57 which has one of its ends secured to the collar and one to the combing disk. These springs and arrano'ed to give the desired opposition or resistance to the yielding i'i'iovemcnt of the disks. The adjacent faces of the combing: disks may be separated by a small space, as shown.

The area of the engaging surfaces of the hubs 58 of the combing:- disks 42 with the collars 48 is so small that no undue friction is produced by such engagement; and if de-' sired, the friction can be made practically negligible by any well-known means.

Between the left-hand end disk 42 and the collar 55 which is threaded on the shaft, as heretofore described with respect to Figure 3, ll provide a suitable autifriction device or thrust bearing 59, such as a ball race 60 with balls 61. This collar 55 is locked in position by a nut 56 as heretofore described. Rotating the collar. 55 to move it in a right-hand direction reduces the resistance of the torsional spring to the yielding movement.

l Vhile in Figure 1 l have shown the yieldare so chosen ing cylinders operating in a machine in connection with positively driven cylinders, obviously yielding cylinders may be used throughout the machine if desired and mounted and operated in any suitable manner, but I prefer the combination shown and described.

in Figure 6 l have shown another form of machine for combing fiber embodying my invention. This machine, more technically speaking, is known as a tibenopening machine, and it is arranged and constructed as follows:

At the central upper portion of a main supporting frame there is mounted a large toothed cylinder 71. carried on a shaft 7 having the usual crooked combing teeth 73 embedded in suitable material such as leather stretched around and secured to the periphery of the cylinder. A suitable stationary guard plate or shield 74rsurrounds the upper part of the lap cylinder, and this plate is provided with hinged ends 75, 75 hinged in any suitable manner so as to be lifted.

This main cylinder is driven in any well known manner, and on the left-hand side of the frame there is provided an endless conveyer 76 passing over wheels or pulleys 77, 78, one of which is driven in any desired manner for moving the conveyor. On this conveyer is spread, in a well known. manner, the fibers or fibrous material to be opened. Between the inner end of the conveyor and the cylinder or roll 71 there is provided two fluted holding or feed rolls 79, 80, which geared together and suitably driven, as is well understood and as indicated by gears 79. The layer of fiber is fed by these rolls to two toothed cylinders or rolls 79, 80, known in the strictest sense of the art, as holding" or feed rolls. These are mounted one above the other, and each in. a well ln'iown manner is provided with crooked combing, teeth embedded in a suitable cloth or leather stretched around the cylinder as heretofore described in connection with cylinder 71; and the cylinders are spaced apart as is well understood, so that these teeth will engragze and feed or hold the layer of fibers coming: from the fluted rolls, in position to be engaged by the combine; teeth on the lap roller. 'lhese teeth on the lap roller engage the fiber and draw it out by such engagementand carry it around. with them, all in such manner that the fibers are embedded in the teeth of this lap roll. and remain thereon, as is well understood in the art, until suitable amount of fiber is thus gathered by the lap roller, after which the mat or lap on this roll is cut transversely and one end thereof is then lifted, as is well understood, from the teeth of the lap roller, and inserted between an upper fluted roll 82 and a conveyor 53% passing at one end over a lower fluted roll 83. The conveyer 84: at its other end passes over a roll 87 mounted 011 shaft 88. The fluted rolls and conveyer are driven. in any suitable manner, as is well understood, in order to convey the lap from the machine.

On the left-hand side of the machine the usual form of toothed stripping cylinder or roll 89 is shown mounted on shaft 90, the operation of which is well understood. This roller serves to clean the teeth of the toothed cylinder 80, as is well understood.

In this machine the toothed cylinders 79, 80 are arranged and constructed according to the form of my invention shown in Figure 2; that is to say, they are in the form of sectionalized toothed cylinders. When these cylinders are so constructed the sections are capable of separately yielding when the fiber that is being acted upon by any of the teeth of the lap roll T1 is put under undue strain. Suppose, by way of illustration, that the lap is three feet wide and the toothed sections on these cylinders 79-8O are an inch wide: If, under these conditions, there is a snarl in the fiber that is engaged by one or two of these toothed sections of the two cylinders 7 9, 80, then as the teeth on the lap cylinder engage the fiber held by the teeth of these section, the sections may yield so as to relieve the fiber of the sudden tearing strain and thus allow is to be pulled out more gradually. It will thus be seen that in this machine, instead of having the teeth of the yieldable toothed cylinders merely pass through the fibers as described in connection with the machine illustrated in Figures 1 to 5, the teeth of the yieldable toothed cylinders are embedded in the fiber and feed or hold it in such manner that it can yield when it is gripped by the teeth of the revolving lap cylinder, thus effecting a yielding combing operation.

While I have shown and described with particularity three forms of combing cylinders embodying the invention, and have shown the cylinders in one machine as mounted on a rotating frame for combing the fibers, and in another machine arranged to feed the fibers, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art, after understanding my invention, that the cylinders may be arranged in any suitable manner for effecting the desired yieldable combing of the fiber. It is well understood in the art that combing devices, for example, may be mounted on endless chains, etc. The mounting of the cylinders on such supports, and various other modifications and changes in the construction and arrangement of the parts, without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention, will be obvious to those skilled in the art, after understanding my invention, and fl. aim in the appended claims to cover all such modifications.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In apparatus for combing fibers, the combination of a support, a plurality of toothed combing cylinders mounted thereon to respectively yield about their axes when their teeth in the act of combing place the fibers under such tension as to unnecessarily cut or break them, and means for producing motion of said support to cause the cylinders to comb the fiber.

2. In apparatus for combing fibers, the combination of a support, a plurality of combing cylinders mounted thereon to yield about their axes, and separate means for each cylinder for regulating its yieldingmovement about its axis whereby, when the teeth in the act of combing place the fibers under such tension as to unnecessarily cut or break them, the cylinders may yield about their axes. a

3. In apparatus for combing fibers, the combination of a rotatable frame, a plurality of combing cylinders mounted uponsaid frame, each yieldable about its axis, and frictional means for regulating said yielding movements of the cylinders so that when the teeth in the act ofcombing place the fibers under such tension as to unnecessarily cut or break them, the cylinders may yield.

a. In apparatus for combing fibers, the combination of a rotatable frame, a plurality of combing cylinders mounted thereon concentrically about the axis, of rotation of said frame and each mounted to yield about its axis of rotation when its teeth place the fibers being combed under such tension as to unnecessarily cut or breakthem, adjustable means for each cylinder for regulating its yielding movement, and means for rotating the support. v

5. A device for combing apparatus for combing fibers, comprising a number of relatively yieldable toothed rotary elements arranged side by side along the axis of rotation to engage the fiber being combed, the number of toothed elements being such that each element engages only a small por tion of the total width of fiber being operated upon, and the yieldability of the elements being such that any element will yield to prevent undue damage to the group of fibers being operated upon by it, whereby unnecessary cutting and breaking of the fibers of localized groups is reduced Without substantially interfering with the operation on the remaining fibers of the width being operated upon.

6. A toothed cylinder for combing apparatus for combing fiber made up of a number of toothed annular sections each yieldable about its axis relatively to the others, and having means for regulating such yielding movement.

7. In apparatus for combing fibers, the

combination of a-number of toothed annular combing sections mounted conccntrically of a common axis and each yieldable about its axis relatively to the others when its teeth place the fibers being combed under such tension as to unnecessarily cut or break them, and means for determining the yielding movement of the sections about their axes.

8. In apparatus for combing fibers, the combination of a plurality of toothed combing sections mounted concentrica ly of a common axis, each section being yieldable about its axis relatively to the others, means for each section. for opposing its yielding movement, and means for adjusting the effectiveness of saidv opposing means.

9. In a toothed cylinder for combing apparatus for combing fibers, the combination of a number of toothed sections, a shaft on Which said sections are loosely mounted for relative movement about the shaft one with respect to another,-means for each section for opposing its yielding movement, and means on the shaft for adjusting the effec tiveness of all of said opposing means.

10. In apparatus for combing fibers, the combination of a shaft, a number of toothed annular sections mounted loosely on said shaft and relatively movable about the shaft one with respect to the other, and a number of devices secured to said shaft from relative rotation with respect thereto and respectively yieldably related to the toothed sections for opposing the yielding movement of said sections when they encounter undue resistance.

11. In a toothed cylinder for combing apparatus for combing fibers, the combination of a shaft, a number of toothed annular cylinder sections mounted loosely on said shaft and relatively movable about the shaft one with respect to the other, and a number of devices secured to said shaft from relative rotation with respect thereto and arranged thereon alternately with said toothed sections and engaging the latter frictionally, and yieldable laterally with respect thereto.

12. In apparatus for combing fibers, the combination of a shaft, a number of collars secured to said shaft from relative rotation about the same but movable longitudinally thereof, a number of toothed sections mounted loosely on said shaft and relatively movable about the shaft one with respect to the other and arranged thereon alternately with said collars, a friction surface between each section vand an adjacent collar for opposing the yielding movement of said section when it encounters resistance, means on said shaft for regulating the friction between said collars and sections at the friction surfaces, and means for each section operatively related to said section and to an adjacent collar for opposing the yielding movement of said section when it encounters resistance.

13. in apparatus for combing fibers, the combination of a frame for holding fibers to be combed, means for combing said fibers comprising a support with a plurality of combing cylinders mounted thereon each yieldable about its axis, means for produc ing relative movement between said frame and said support to cause the fibers to be combed by said cylinders, and a combing cylinder adapted to be positively driven about its axis for combing said fibers after they have been combed by said first combing means.

14:. in amparatus for combing fibers, the combination of a support, and a toothed cylinder mounted thereon to yield about its axis when encountering undue resistance,

said cylinder comprising a plurality of rela- I tively yieldable toothed sections adapted to yield about their axes one relative to the other when the fiber engaged by them is put under undue tension in the combing oporation, vhereby the sections individually or the cylinder as a whole may yield, depending upon the resistance encountered.

15. in apparatus for combing fibers, the combination of a rotatable frame for hold.- ing fibers to be combed, preliminary combing means for combing the fibers comprising a rotatable frame and a pluralit of comb ing cylinders mounted thereon, each yieldable about its axis during the rotation of said frame, and a combing cylinder adapted to be positively driven about its axis for continuing the combing of the fibers.

16. in apparatus for combing fibers, the combination of a rotatable frame for bold ing fibers to be combed, means for giving said fibers a preliminary combingcompris-' ing a rotatable frame with a plurality of combing cylinders mounted thereon, each yieldable about its axis during rotation. of the frame, a combing cylinder adapted to be positively driven about its axis for continuing the combing 0;. said fibers after they pass from the first combing means to said cylinder, means for rotating said cylinderframe and second combing cylinder, a roller brush having its teeth. adapted to engage the teeth on the plurality of combing cylinders as the frame carrying said cylinders rotates, and also adapted to engage the teeth of the cylinder that does the subsequent combing, the teeth of said roller brush being in such intimate mesh with the teeth of the last-mentioned cylinder that the roller brush has -substantially the same peripheral speed as said last-mentioned cylinder, and the speed of said rotatable frame carrying the plurality of combing cylinders being such that the teeth of said last cylinders where they en age the teeth of said roller brush are traveling at less speed.

than the peripheral speed of said roller brush, whereby the fibers adhering to the teeth of said series of roller cylinders are brushed from the same and transmitted to the combing cylinder which does the subsequent combing.

17. In apparatus for combing fibers, the combination of a support, a combing cylinder mounted on said support to yield about its axis, means for producing relative movement between the cylinder and the fiber to be combed for combing the fiber, and adjustable "frictional gripping means for regulating the yielding movement of the cylinder about its aXis so that when the teeth place the fibers being combed under such tension as to unnecessarily cut or break them, the cylinder will yield about its axis.

18. In apparatus for combing fibers, the combination of a toothed combing cylinder made up of a number of toothed annular combing sections, a support on which said sections are mounted concentrically side by for yieldably connecting said sections to said support.

1 9. In apparatus for combing fibers, the combination of a toothed combing cylinder made up of a number of toothed annular combing sections, a support on which said sections are mounted concentrically sideby side, each yieldable about its axis relatively to the others when its teeth place the fibers being'combed under such tension as to un necessarily cut or break them, and means for yieldably connecting said sections to said support, said sections having lateral annular projections extending from one section to another to exclude lint and dirt.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification.

AUBREY MEYER. 

